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NBA Picks

NBA Picks Of The Day: Add Our Two Elite Plays For Today's Betting

Our holiday hot streak continued on Christmas Day, with a perfect 3-0 against the NBA odds, and now we are back, before you go returning all the bad gifts you got.

Pacers vs. Wolves
The Wolves have been up and down this season compared to mostly down last season, however some recent lineup changes have reinvigorated this team on defense, so the Pacers will have their work cut out for them tonight on the road. The Wolves present a big mismatch in the post with their stable of big men, and tonight the Pacers will have to rely on their veteran guard play to best the Timberwolves on this day after Christmas. The NBA odds have the Pacers as -3½ favorites, with a total of 206 points, and while the total is intriguing, the Pacers look like the best value on the board for this game.

Indiana has been pretty bad against the Western Conference this season, but as we discussed earlier in the week in one of our winning NBA Picks on Indiana, the Pacers have played some pretty tough Western Conference competition this season, and the Wolves are far from the top tier of Western Conference talent. Even on the road where the Pacers are only 7-7 ATS, I see them covering this game. Indiana is only 1-4 ATS in their last five games, but the Wolves aren’t much better, cashing at 2-9-1 ATS in their last 12 games, and only 2-12-1 ATS in their 15 home games this season. With the Pacers coming in as an undervalued road favorite, I can lay the points with them with confidence. The Pacers are only 2-4 ATS this season as road favorites, but the number in this one is too good to pass up.

Nuggets vs. Spurs
This one may be as off the board as off the board gets, but tonight the Spurs are coming off their loss to Houston on Christmas Day, and now have a date with the Nuggets back in San Antonio. Last night the Spurs played pretty badly on the offensive end, with everyone except Kawhi Leonard looking lost on offense. A lot of credit should be given to the Rockets, who showed up on defense for what seemed to be the first time this season.

Tonight the Spurs are -14 favorites in the NBA odds, with a total of 194½. While this one would have been better if the Spurs had won yesterday’s game, there is still a chance that on the heels of a back-to-back game, Gregg Popovich might elect to sit some of his veterans. It is a home game so that does play into it some, but if the Spurs elect to rest Tim Duncan and potentially others in this game, the Nuggets present a nice ATS betting value in this road game post-Christmas.

In games with a spread of +9 or higher this season, the Nuggets are 6-2 ATS, and they have already covered the spread once this season against the Spurs in San Antonio, where the spread was lower than it is now. Even if the Spurs don’t rest anyone, I see the Nuggets covering here.

The real issue in this one is the Nuggets’ health. If Danilo Gallinari, Jameer Nelson and Emmanuel Mudiay all don’t play tonight, that makes me think this one could be a no go. However, if they don’t play, it could also lead to the Spurs resting some of their guys. All in all, it’s a risk, and don’t lock anything in before we have more information, but if the Nuggets can get back some of their injured players back after the holiday break, I like them to cover the spread tonight.